The Patriot Pack has made the BTA Scholarship Foundation its charitable cause beginning with The Ride in 2024.
Its focus will be on providing scholarships to office technology U.S. military veterans, their children and grandchildren.
The 2025-26 scholarship application will be available in December.
Applications must be submitted by May 1, 2025.
Who is Eligible?
Applicants must be (at the time of the evaluation and the award):
- A full-time U.S. military veteran employee* of a current BTA member dealership** or his (or her) child or grandchild.
AND
- A full-time student maintaining a class schedule of at least 12 hours (nine hours for graduate students) of college credits per semester throughout the school year covered by the scholarship. These credit hours must be at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or technical/trade school.
*An employee of a current BTA member dealership may apply only if he (or she) meets both the full-time-employee and full-time-student requirements (working 30 or more hours per week and enrolled in 12 or more hours).
**The term "BTA dealer member" as used in the application describes a current BTA member that is classified in the BTA database as a Dealer member type. The BTA dealer member must be a member in good standing before the application will be forwarded to the evaluator, on the date selections are made, and on the date scholarship checks are issued.
Evaluation Information
- Applications received will be labeled as Patriot Pack applications and will be evaluated separately from BTA scholarship applications.
- Applications will be evaluated by an independent and impartial evaluator — a dean at a Kansas City, Missouri, university who has served as BTA's scholarship evaluator for many years. BTA plays no role in selecting the winners.
- Winners are determined based on several factors, including: GPA; school activities; leadership positions; work experience, recognition and awards; community involvement; and an essay. Scholarships are not based on financial need.
Fine Print
- All funds collected through The Patriot Pack's efforts will be comingled with existing BTA Scholarship Foundation funds, but the contributions will be accounted for separately.
- All Patriot Pack scholarships will ultimately go to U.S. military veterans (or their children or grandchildren) who are employed by BTA member dealerships at the time of the award.
- Forty percent of all funds collected through The Patriot Pack will be awarded as scholarships for the year. This will build the fund so if The Patriot Pack ever stops fundraising, veteran-focused scholarships can be awarded for many years into the future.
- For example, if $50,000 is raised in a year, $20,000 of that would be put toward scholarships, potentially awarding four $5,000 scholarships.
Scholarship questions? Contact Elizabeth Marvel at elizabeth@bta.org or (816) 303-4060.
Additional Contacts
Business Technology Association
Brent Hoskins
Executive Editor, Business Technology Association
Editor, Office Technology
Phone: (816) 303-4040
Email: brent@bta.org
Stramaglio Consulting
Mike Stramaglio
President & CEO
Phone: (650) 888-9645
Email: mike@stramaglioconsulting.com
Hiro Ueda
Partner & COO
Phone: (480) 819-6515
Email: mike@stramaglioconsulting.com
Patriot Pack Scholarships are supported by contributions from individual dealers, manufacturers and distributors.
OR
Contribute via Venmo using the code at right →
The BTA Scholarship Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.
Contributions are tax deductible.
The Ride 2024 Schedule
| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday, 9/8 | MARS International | |
| Monday, 9/9 | 8:45 a.m. | Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. Inc. |
| 10:15 a.m. | Sharp USA | |
| 2 p.m. | DLL Financial Services | |
| Tuesday, 9/10 | 9 a.m. | Cobb Technologies |
| 10:30 a.m. | Virginia Business Systems | |
| Noon | The Patriot Pond | |
| Wednesday, 9/11 | 11 a.m. | Systel Business Equipment |
| 4 p.m. | ABR Digital Office Solutions | |
| Thursday, 9/12 | 9:30 a.m. | First Citizens Bank |
| 1 p.m. | Hytec | |
| Friday, 9/13 | 9 a.m. | Milner |
| 10:30 a.m. | DEX Imaging | |
| 3 p.m. | Navy Seals Team Museum and Academy |